Oksana called late in the evening, almost in the middle of the night.
“Dasha, are you sleeping? Get up! I’m in trouble. We’re coming to your place with the kids. We have nowhere else to go.”
“Wait, slow down,” Darya said, still half-asleep and unable to understand what her friend wanted. “I don’t get it. What happened?”
The next day was important for Darya — her last working day before vacation — so she had decided to go to bed early.
“I said we’re coming to you. Makar, stop shouting like that, I can’t hear Aunt Dasha at all!”
There was noise in the background. Oksana’s three children were unusually active despite the late hour.
“What on earth was that?” Darya muttered into the silence, because her friend had already hung up.
Twenty minutes later, a noisy crowd burst into sleepy Darya’s apartment.
“Can you finally explain what happened? Did Mikhail throw you out?” she asked Oksana.
“Throw me out? As if! I’ll throw him out myself. I’ll sue that bastard! He dared to raise his hand to me. Can you imagine?”
“Was he drunk?” Darya asked in surprise, knowing very well how calm her friend’s husband usually was.
“No, sober as glass. Apparently, he was outraged that I spend too much money on myself. He said I wasted all our savings on shopping,” Oksana replied resentfully, rocking her sleepy two-year-old daughter in her arms.
“Surely it wasn’t just because of that?” Darya said, not quite believing her.
“Well, of course not only because of that. Just then, as luck would have it, his mother called. She asked Misha when we were going to pay back the money we owed her. She said she was planning to go to a sanatorium and needed to buy a voucher, but she had no money.”
“And what do you have to do with that?” Darya asked, struggling to follow Oksana’s chaotic explanation.
“I was the one who borrowed the money from her. A decent amount. So what?” Oksana answered, noticing Darya’s astonished look. “We have three little rascals, and Misha’s salary is nowhere near enough. He has no idea how much the children need — and how much I need too. I can’t just let myself go and turn into some sloppy mess. I have to look good. And all these beauty treatments are so expensive, there’s never enough money!”
“Oksana, are you serious? Have you lost your mind? Why would you get involved with your mother-in-law like that? You know she’ll always take her son’s side. She’ll even invent things that never happened,” Darya said, stunned.
“She offered the money herself! Once I complained that we couldn’t manage on Misha’s salary, and she suggested lending me some. Then later I asked her myself. A few times.”
“Oh, Oksana, you never stop surprising me. Though, honestly… you’ve always been like this — impulsive, reckless. And irresponsible too. You need to start using your head. It’s about time,” the hostess said irritably.
Darya was not happy about these guests at all. Everything was badly timed and terribly inconvenient.
Gradually, the children calmed down and sleep finally overcame them. The women unfolded the sofa in the living room and put all of Oksana’s children to bed there.
“I have work early tomorrow. Let’s go to sleep too,” Darya said drowsily.
“Oh, aren’t you on vacation yet?” Oksana asked in surprise.
“No. Tomorrow is my last workday. In a couple of days I’m flying to the seaside. This year I decided to have a proper vacation. There’s no point sitting at home — there will always be chores, and you never actually rest.”
“You’re so lucky,” Oksana said dreamily. “I’d love to fly somewhere too and take a break from my kids. You were so right not to jump into marriage at eighteen like I did. You built a career, bought an apartment, go on vacation whenever you want. And no one nags you, no one accuses you of spending someone else’s money,” her friend added sadly.
“Well, believe me, I have to work hard for my own money too. And you have three children — that’s something to envy as well. You and Misha will make peace, and everything will be fine. Now let’s sleep.”
The next evening, when Darya returned home from work, she found her apartment in complete chaos.
She could not have imagined such a mess even in her worst nightmare. Children’s clothes and toys were scattered everywhere, even in the bathroom and toilet. Her new curtains were smeared with something white, and a large stain stood out on the carpet.
“Oh, that? Makar was eating yogurt and spilled a little. Don’t worry, it washes out easily,” Oksana said calmly when she noticed the owner’s horrified expression.
In the hallway, near the front door, all the pillows the children had found in the apartment were lying on the floor.
“It’s a train with carriages. Do you like it? I built it,” five-year-old Danil said proudly.
“Oksana, couldn’t you at least clean up after your children?” Darya asked wearily.
“Clean up? Don’t make me laugh. There’s no point. In five minutes it’ll look exactly the same. You’re just not used to it, that’s why you react like this. I don’t even notice anymore. But I made soup. I found some chicken in your freezer. You don’t mind, do you?”
“I don’t mind. If you made soup, good, then we’ll have dinner. I also picked up some wine and nice cheese. I’m officially going on vacation, so we’ll celebrate.”
During dinner, Darya asked when Oksana and the children were planning to go home.
“You have to understand, I have tons of things to do. I’m flying out the day after tomorrow. I’ve planned a lot, and I still need to pack. And now you’re all here…”
“Dasha, we have nowhere else to go. My parents live far away. And I want to teach Misha a lesson. Let him suffer a little. Let him feel how bad it is without us. Let him understand what he’s lost,” Oksana said, sipping her wine.
“Oh, that’s hilarious. I can’t,” Darya said with a bitter laugh. “Your Mikhail is probably enjoying the silence and peace right now. He’s probably praying to every god he knows that you stay away as long as possible. Believe me, this kind of punishment is exactly to his liking.”
“No. My husband is suffering because I’m not answering his calls, and he doesn’t know where we are with the kids. Let us stay just one more night, all right? Tomorrow I’ll figure something out,” Oksana said, looking at her friend pleadingly.
“Well, I’m not going to throw you out at night. Stay, what else can I do?”
The next day, Darya went shopping. She needed to buy food and household supplies for her mother, who had difficulty walking because of problems with her legs. Darya was leaving for two weeks, so she wanted to make sure her mother would not need anything while she was away. She also had to buy beach clothes and shoes. With her recent heavy work schedule, she had not had any time for that.
When she came home closer to evening, she was surprised to find that her guests were still there. And once again, the apartment was a mess.
“Oksana, what’s going on? I thought you had already left. I’m exhausted, I still have a million things to do, and right now I really don’t have time for guests.”
“I was going to leave… but Misha yelled at me again. I was stupid to answer his call. He told me I was wandering around who knows where and that I shouldn’t bother coming home. He called me every awful name he could think of,” Oksana said, nearly crying.
“He’s just provoking you! Don’t you understand? Go home! You’re going to go back anyway. The longer you sit here, the worse it will get. You need to make peace and live your life, not play these ridiculous games.”
“Fine. Since you insist, we’ll leave tomorrow,” her friend answered reluctantly.
“Why tomorrow? I wanted to clean today,” Darya said, already tempted to snap, but holding herself back.
“Please, Dasha! I’m begging you. I don’t want to go today. Let Misha realize how wrong he was. Calling me names like that — it’s beyond belief!”
“Oh, what am I supposed to do with you? Stay. But tomorrow morning, straight home. Understood?” Darya said firmly.
“Yes, yes! Of course. Tomorrow we’ll go home.”
In the morning, Oksana began slowly gathering the children’s things and toys. They called a taxi. When the car arrived, Oksana suddenly shouted:
“Where is Makar? Son, where are you? Answer Mommy! Makar, where are you?”
She searched every room, cupboard, and cabinet. Finally, the little prankster was found in the bathroom, hiding behind the curtain.
“All right, goodbye! Good luck, and I hope you make peace!” Darya said as she saw them off.
She breathed a sigh of relief and got to work. But less than an hour later, the unwanted guests returned — all of them.
“What now?” Darya asked, bewildered, opening the door.
“Can you imagine? Misha changed the locks on the apartment. What a snake! Look what he’s doing! He’s trying to prove something to me. But he won’t break me with that, and I’m not falling for his stupid tricks.”
“What tricks? What are you talking about? Oksana, are you completely out of your mind?” Darya asked harshly. “You have three little children. You should have called a locksmith and had the door opened. That’s your home. You and the kids are registered there!”
“No…” Oksana looked away.
“What do you mean, no?”
“The children and I are registered at my parents’ place. The apartment belongs to my mother-in-law, and she refused to register us there.”
“Well, that’s news. But you still need to meet with your husband and talk everything through,” Darya insisted. “You can’t stay here forever. I’m flying out tomorrow, and I’m not leaving you here.”
How Oksana managed to talk Darya into it, Darya herself never understood. But in the end, Oksana and the children stayed in her apartment until she returned from the seaside.
Now, as Darya rode home in a taxi from the airport, she was almost afraid to imagine what was waiting for her there. She had spoken to Oksana every day, and her friend had assured her that everything in the apartment was fine and that Darya should relax and not worry about anything. But Darya’s heart still felt uneasy.
To her surprise, the apartment was relatively tidy. The children were quietly watching cartoons, and there was a festive dinner on the table to celebrate her return.
After telling Oksana about her vacation and showing off her beautiful photos, Darya decided she could no longer remain silent.
“Oksana, you’re my friend. I helped you and the children during a difficult moment. But my small apartment is not a hotel. It cannot hold this many people. Please understand, I have my own life. You need to go home. You’ve already been living here for more than two weeks. Enough. It’s time to return.”
“You’re right, of course. You’re right, Dasha. We’ll start packing tomorrow.”
“What’s happening with you and Mikhail? Have you talked?”
“No. He doesn’t want to talk.”
“You have to, Oksana. You have to talk. You’re a family, no matter what. And you need to think about the children.”
But neither the next day nor the day after that did Oksana and the children move out.
Then Darya decided to take drastic action. She called Mikhail herself.
“Listen, this is completely out of hand! How long are you going to keep acting stubborn? Come and take your family from my apartment immediately!” Darya told him.
“What stubbornness are you talking about? Thank you for calling and telling me where they are. Oksana has been hiding from me. I didn’t even know where to look for them. I only threatened her a little, and now she’s driving me crazy. That woman is impossible! I miss the children already. That’s it, I’ll come get them today.”
“Then why did you change the lock?” Darya asked in surprise.
“It broke, so I had to replace it. What did Oksana think? Honestly, she’s unbelievable.”
An hour later, Mikhail arrived at Darya’s apartment.
“How could you? Why did you call him? I had almost achieved what I wanted. His mother had already started giving in and promised to register us in the apartment. What kind of friend are you after this?” Oksana screamed when she saw her husband at the door.
“And this is your thank-you, Oksana? After everything I did for you? Well done, my dear friend. Well done. What else could I expect from someone so ungrateful? You’ve taught me a valuable lesson. I’ll remember it for the future.”
Darya spent a long time recovering from what had happened. And eventually she came to one conclusion: she no longer had friends — and she never would again.